


Every Saint Has a Past

by DreamingMoonlight



Series: The Fate of All Villains [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Post-Thor 2 Speculation and Rumored Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-08
Updated: 2013-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 20:52:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/917893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingMoonlight/pseuds/DreamingMoonlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of <i>Thor 2</i>, Loki has some plans he's going to put into motion, one that includes the Infinity Gauntlet and Thanos.  Maybe this time things will go according to plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Saint Has a Past

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes into account rumored spoilers and the Thor: The Dark World Prelude #2 issue, as well as some rampant speculation. Many of these elements (or possible elements) are ones I'm not pleased with, so I felt it necessary to write my own explanation of what I would _like_ to be going on with them. I don't actually think this speculation on my part is what was really going on with that tie-in comic, but I would _like_ it to be, given that this makes more sense to me. I have also shamelessly borrowed some mythology elements, but I do what I want, Thor!
> 
> Title based on an Oscar Wilde quote. Thank you to [thescentofwhiteroses](http://thescentofwhiteroses.tumblr.com/) and [umakoo](http://umakoo.tumblr.com/) for their wonderful hand-holding, as always. Now complete, the sequel fic is in progress!

SIX MONTHS AGO:

Loki knelt on a vast plane of stars, held aloft by some invisible force that he did not question. His head was bowed and his eyes closed, for he could not look up and he did not wish to look down. "Then, do we have a deal?" he croaked, his fingers clenching hard around the staff he used to prop himself up.

A pale hand ghosted over his own, barely more than the touch of a feather drifting past, but Loki shuddered for it, a cold chill rippling down his spine. A soft voice answered, more inside his head than out of it. 

_Our agreement is struck and it is as binding as I am eternal. I will give you what you ask when you have paid me the price that has been set. But be warned, little godling: I am inescapable, you cannot cheat me._

Loki nodded and felt the cold hand of Death brush along his face, the trails of her wrap like the mists of Niflheim trying to steal over him. 

_Now bring me what you have promised me._

* * *

NOW:

The Midgardians had a saying: that time soothed all wounds. Yet this was entirely false, for Loki had far more time than any mortal and it had only made his scars all the worse. Tired and exhausted beyond any other time in his memory he may have been, everything dull and heavy, yet his wounds still bled deep and true. When Thor had told them of Frigga's death at the hands of Malekith and his Dark Elves, Loki had been ready to tear all of Svartalheim apart in his rage. But he had carefully tucked it away, unable to escape Odin's prisons, knowing that Loki Odinson would find no help, for he was dead. And this Loki had been named Laufeyson in his place, another wound that would only grow with the endless time stretched before him to feed it.

Oh, how he had raged after the shock of it had worn off, how viciously _satisfied_ he'd been in the Allfather's hypocrisy despite that none other than himself could see it and so he had no one to share it with. That Odin had banned his mother, whom Loki would not deny had been a true mother to him, from seeing him, that he had named Loki enemy to Asgard, despite all that he had done in her service. Loki had laughed and screamed, alternating between the two, and then mixing them together, for days and days before he'd managed to smooth it down, fold it up, and tuck it away to keep the fires of his rage forever fed.

And then Thor had come to him for help, their mother dead, and Loki unable to take his vengeance alone, even when he'd used the chaos and confusion of the battle with Malekith to escape Odin's chains. He did not know if the sorcerer lived or was dead at Thor's hand for the crimes he'd committed against Thor's mother and that mortal, but he was beyond Loki's reach either way. If he wandered the roads of Niflheim, that is where Loki would have sent him, anyway. If he was in the dungeons of Asgard, then Loki would not be able to reach him there, not with all the protections Odin had put there, layers upon layers of magical warding and runes etched into the very columns that held the ceilings aloft. Asgard as a whole had its weaknesses, but the dungeons no longer did, not for Loki Laufeyson.

Instead, he'd retreated to Midgard, to plot and plan and rage, quietly and internally, for he could not attract the Avengers' attention yet, not until he had a plan.

So, Loki of nowhere plotted and plotted until he had his cobbled together plan, the only way that he could even hope to soothe the terrible rage in his heart.

* * *

Even if no one expected him to return to Asgard, once Loki's escape had been made known, the Einherjar were naturally on high alert and every realm knew to watch for him. Yet even gods who did not age or the former mortals who now walked among the gods would still tire and begin to slacken, whether from other looming threats or simple distraction. Loki had spent less than half a turn of Midgard around their sun waiting before he was able to sneak in between the gaps of the defenses, cloaked from Heimdall's sight, and on the edge of the great, golden city.

A simple glamor cast over his face hid him from the crowds and the guards that stood sentry outside of the tower that held Hlidskjalf, making it easy to wind his way through the unsuspecting people of Asgard. People who had once been _his_ people, that had been torn from him or turned their backs on him without cause, they'd betrayed him from the second he'd been handed Gungnir, even if it was only in their hearts at first. They had _never_ accepted him, _never_ given him a true chance, only told him that he'd had one so that they could crow about their benevolence and find fault in him instead.

Such thoughts circled and buzzed in his head all the way through the dark halls of Odin's Tower, until he reached the lower levels of the vault, a quick spell cast over the guards to make them sleep. The vault's doors still opened easily to him, the lock a complicated puzzle he'd watched the Allfather solve a hundred times, when Thor and Loki had begged him as children to bring them there.

And, inside, waited his treasure.

Oh, there were many things he could use here, and gave serious thought to at least taking the Tablet of Life, that he could remake himself with it. But he'd truly had enough of trying to be what he was not. Loki would finish this, finish it _all_ , with his own wits and cunning.

It was not far to the nook that held the Infinity Gauntlet, all five gems neatly in place and pulsing with power even before Loki could reach out to touch it. There were wards wrapped around it as well, ones that his child self could never have solved without setting them off, but the Allfather had grown tired and weary in his old age. They had not been touched in at least a century and more likely two, long enough that Loki Odinson had been of an age where he would not have stolen such a thing now that he could solve it.

But Loki of nowhere focused on carefully untangling the knots of their power, the thin strands of magic woven carefully together, and eventually pulled them free, letting them hang to the side, glowing and full of life to those with magesight. Then it was easy to lift his prize out and tuck it away into his magic space with just a simple wave of his hands.

Afterwards, Loki reached out to pluck just one dangling thread of the magic around the Gauntlet's pedestal, yanking it hard so that the magic shivered and wavered, just enough to call out to those who were listening for it. And then Loki settled in to wait.

* * *

The great doors of Odin's vault creaked open and Loki turned to see who would come to greet him. It was unlikely to be the Allfather himself, for he had grown even older and more tired in the wake of the last year's events. The dark energy he'd been forced to gather to send Thor to Midgard, the weaving of the spells for Loki's prison, the pressure from the other Nine Realms to bring these matters back to hand, the fight with the Dark Elves, the loss of his wife, and the ever heavier burden placed on his golden son. For all that Odin wished Thor to shed his arrogance, this heavy weight to his only son now was not a pleasant one for him and added to the Allfather's burden, Loki was sure.

Yet still Odin was forced to send that son to deal with the most persistent of the snakes in their garden and Loki's welcoming smile for Thor was wide and vicious indeed.

"Loki," Thor said and, oh, how tired he sounded as well. Such a shame that this was no longer the brother he'd once known, for even his golden hair seemed duller and his eyes were pale and washed out instead of the vibrant color of the skies. "Let us finish this then."

Spreading his empty hands, Loki stepped forward only the once, just enough to see the exhaustion in Thor's face all the more clearly. So much his brother had had to endure as well! Perhaps now Thor knew a little something of what Loki carried with him, and he reveled in the satisfaction he felt at that. And yet there would be still more to come! For Loki Laufeyson had much to do.

"No entreats to come to my senses? No threats to kill me, should I bring any harm to Asgard or her people? Or are you truly so bereft of the speeches you loved to spout in your youth, now that your favorite captive audience member would call out the lies in them?"

"I have spent all the words I can think to bring reason to you or to call you to cease, Loki. There are none left between us." Mjolnir was raised in his hand and she, at least, still shone with all her due radiance and Loki was heartened to see it. What good would come of his plans if this were not a real fight? It would be wasteful of such an excellent opportunity. "Truly, we will finish this now."

For all that Thor was not what he once was, he still hoarded all the presence in this space and left nothing for anyone else here. He was still the focus of everything, even when he gave no thought for Loki or his motivations, which still burned, that Thor would not _see_ , yet Loki could not look away when lightning crawled over the hammer at his side.

"That is a shame, I was so hoping that you would plead with me to return to my kennel and leash, now that your carelessness has already cost you the only other goddess in this realm of any worth and you only have the old fool for company," he hissed and let loose a dagger aimed at Thor's shoulder, which was easily avoided when Thor flung Mjolnir straight at him, his rage finally returning.

She crashed right through Loki to the wall beyond, embedding herself in the stone with no more than a flicker of light and shadow around her. Loki's illusion wavered once and disappeared, his cruel laughter soft in Thor's ear. "But we shall not finish this today, I do have other things to attend to first."

The darkness of the paths between the world opened to his magesight, swallowing Loki up before Thor could finish calling Mjolnir back to his hand, and Loki left behind the thought that Thor had not called him 'brother' even once and had likely not even thought it.

* * *

He should have returned immediately to Midgard, there was so little time to spare, and yet... he could not. Loki slunk through the shadows of Odin's tower, skulking his way through the halls that he still knew so well, a childhood memory around each corner that had to be viciously stomped down. They swarmed at him with each step of the way. The image of the great stairways that he and Thor had taken shields to and ridden them down like sleds with great whoops of joy. The the time Loki had crawled behind the floor to ceiling tapestry of Vili so that he could watch as a pair Valkyries marched towards his mother's rooms to deliver some bit of news. The bronze statue of a woman sitting at her weaving spindle that Loki had accidentally turned to brass when he was first learning magic and had desperately tried to fix before it was noticed.

In his mothers rooms, the memories were even worse, for he could recall a hundred times that he'd sneaked in as a child, when the night had been too dark and cold, some formless nightmare tormenting him. He could recall the dozens of times he'd come to her for advice when he was older, when he had tried so hard to be as Asgard--as Thor, as the Allfather--had wished him to be, while she had smiled softly and touched her hand to his cheek. Always, she had said that he would find his own way, that that was what he should find peace with.

And he'd listened and he'd tried, but her words were never quite enough to undo the desperate need he'd once had to prove himself. Perhaps it was better that she was not here to see this, to see the ruin of her house and the future she'd tried to pave for him.

His touch was light against her things, the golden hairbrushes at her dressing table and the pins that held her beautiful curls into place at the crown of her head, the light blue cloak that had been thrown over the back of a chair. It was difficult not to pick them up and tuck them away into his magic space, that he could take all these pieces of her with him on his journey, no matter that they were better left here.

There was only one thing Loki would take, buried at the back of her closet, a light and delicate spell wrapped around it, as easily breakable as a gossamer web. It took him time, each strand had to be pulled carefully away, even if there was no one there to feel it, because Loki could not bear to rip his way through his mother's fine work.

Eventually it came apart in his hands and Loki brushed it carefully back away from the dark material that he sought, the black feathers of her falcon cloak drawing the shadows to it, even in this place. It should have been foreboding, but somehow it felt warm and comforting, his mother's influence woven into its very fabric and her scent still lingering along its collar.

Loki wrapped it around his shoulders, the length and breadth of it somehow perfectly fitting his frame, and pushed a small amount of greeting magic to it. He'd half expected the cloak to outright reject him as well, but it only embraced him as his mother had, the shift of his form to the great bird of prey was easy and almost pleasant. Loki's wings were a natural fit, so much easier than when he'd first shifted himself into the form of an animal, and he effortlessly spread them and let the wind carry him away from Asgard.

* * *

He'd remained in falcon form through the tears between the worlds, easily flying through the pathways as well as he could walk them, and flew out into Midgard's gray skies. It seemed even the weather here was duller than he remembered, the air above nearly indistinguishable from the dull gray ground below.

Working magic while under the cloak's cover was a little trickier than normal, but still easier than Loki had anticipated. He cast a brief spell to veil him from the eyes of mortals and soared higher, until he was skimming along the undersides of the clouds, reaching out with his magesenses in every direction. It was not difficult to find the huge metal behemoth that patrolled Midgard's skies, and Loki banked towards it, letting the wind do most of the work. It was often hidden behind the clouds, but once he flew high enough, they were not so dense as to hide it from plain sight.

The mortals' great ship was not what it once was, but it flew steadily enough and the roar of its engines still drowned out any other sound when Loki neared. They only quieted when he soared up the side of it, until he was on the large deck and perched on one of their flying machines, giving himself a moment to rest. Like little ants, they crawled every which way on the surface, bringing little bits of machinery from here to there, following each other in little lines back to their nest, and then out again to seek more of whatever they were tasked with.

How tiresome it must be, Loki thought, to live such a droning, boring life. Perhaps they liked it, their tiny little minds able to hold no more than this, that any greater thinking would explode their fragile little skulls like an overripe fruit crushed in the paw of a hungry bear.

He let the cloak fall from his shoulders, once again in the shape of a god, and tucked it away into his magic space. Finding his way through the tunnels of this metal hive held little difficulties, either, for Loki could sense his prize even from a distance. As well as the locks that were so difficult for mortals were useless to those walked among ancient magics every day, even if Loki couldn't have simply crushed them in his wake.

Still, the less attention he attracted, the more time he would have. So, he slipped magic into each one of them, only a little drained away at a time, as each door slid easily open before him, a series of identical dark gray metal that opened onto yet more dark gray. His boots did not ring out on the hard floors, nor did the leathers of his clothes creak, for Loki was utterly silent as he made his way into the heart of the metal beast.

And there he found what he needed--a large, mostly empty laboratory with only a few little worker ants in puffy white outfits poking and prodding at the dead Chitauri on the table between them.

Loki found it more tempting that he'd have liked to reveal himself, just to see the panic on their faces inside the suits that covered their entire bodies and heads, but he held himself in check. A light whisper of magic and a simple rune drawn on their backs had them collapsing into a deep sleep that would not wake them for hours.

And then Loki looked down at the nearly quartered dead Chitauri and reached down to crack its skull open. His fingers pried into the spaces between its brain and bones until he found the exact little spot he wanted and pressed down on it. A little jolt of power and the thing's entire body twisted harshly under his hand, but Loki could feel the connection burst into life at his fingertips.

The thousands of little buzzing minds was akin to sticking his own mind into the whirring blades of the metal monster's engines, but Loki held strong and let his message carry across the link.

_Tell your master that I have what he truly seeks. I have sacrificed the little toy he gave me, but I have a much greater prize waiting for him on Midgard._

* * *

No sooner had he pulled his hand free from the Chitauri's brain matter, he was aware of a piercing klaxon wailing for all to hear. A moment later, the doors opened and nearly a dozen armed soldiers poured into the room, the muzzles of their guns all sharply flicking in different directions as they looked for the intruder.

"Show yourself!" one of them yelled and, well, Loki could hardly be asked to resist.

With a light ripple of power, he brushed away the invisibility spell and grinned at the wave of fear that spread across them, their shoulders tensing and their hands gripped tightly around their weapons. "My apologies for the lack of a proper greeting, but I was in a bit of a rush."

"It's Loki!" one of them yelled with his tinny little voice underneath the black helmet that was part of their uniforms. "Sir, I repeat, Loki is onboard!"

"Ah, the master soon will approach. It's a shame I cannot stay to greet him, I would have enjoyed another conversation. Do give my regards." He leapt backwards, their guns all firing on him at once, shattering the equipment on the tabletops and riddling even the Chitauri corpse. They could not truly hurt him, though the bullets did force him back and interrupt his focus. But as soon as he disappeared and they could not find their target, there was enough of a lull that Loki could draw the falcon cloak back over his shoulders and summon a small burst of wind that he used to soar over their heads and back into the long corridors.

He let the falcon form go as soon as he was free of the tangle of little insects trying to crawl their way back to him, but then realized they could be of more help than hindrance if he let them. He stalked the hallways for long minutes, none the wiser when he was in their midst, despite the alarms that still rung out to announce his presence. Eventually he made his way to a large room with clear glass windows that overlooked the clouds beneath them, and he let the invisibility spell fall away as soon as he stepped over to appraise the view.

One thing he would say about the mortals, they certainly reacted with their impulses rather than their careful thoughts, so it was little wonder that Asgard protected their frail little kindred spirits so fiercely. They immediately opened fire on him again, the rain of bullets like being pelted with rocks that could only bruise him, but shattering the windows behind him. With another leap backwards, Loki let himself fall from the great height, dropping like a stone heaved down to the roots of the World Tree, until he was clear of the metal monster and his falcon wings caught the wind to carry him forward once more.

* * *

Loki did not tire in his flight, not with the Infinity Gems still held by the Gauntlet, and, oh, they were a tempting thought. He could truly rule all the Nine Realms and bring about a peace that not even the Allfather had ever dreamed of! He could rearrange reality around him so that it was more balanced and set to rights or he could step back in time to fix all the mistakes of a lifetime that had been made. He could even have gone back and dashed a baby's head against the rocks before it was ever stolen so that truly _none_ of this would have ever happened. He could go back and protect his mother, could whisk her away the night before the invasion of Asgard, and keep her safe. He could go back and slide a blade between Malekith's vertebrae so that stealing his mother away would not be necessary.

The possibilities were truly infinite and Loki had given consideration to each and every one of them that had come to mind.

But, for all their power, they were still subject to the laws of the Norns and Loki had well learned his lesson. There were some things that could not be undone and some things that must always come to pass.

So he flew through Midgard's vast skies, across the long expanses of land that seemed nearly endless, until he reached the furthest coast of the country, where it was warm and humid. The temperature did not do well with his heavy leathers and metal, but Loki bore it with the regality that was his due twice over, as he pulled out the Mind Gem from the Gauntlet's knuckle to spread his thoughts across the endless ocean of this world.

_Jormungandr, come to me._

There was a sleepy rumble deep, deep down in the ocean as Loki's son began to stir with the reticence of a child who did not wish to rise for lessons, but he still answered his father's call. With a speed that nearly nothing in the Nine Realms could match, at least not in the water, the giant serpent of Midgard was soon tearing across the bottom of the sea, and Loki could feel his large body slithering back and forth as it swam forward at a dizzying pace. Within an hour--and hour during which Loki felt the terrible ripping sensation of the Tesseract's power tearing open a new rift in the space between Asgard and Midgard, and he was not sure if he imagined Thor's terrible wrath being felt from this distance for not--and Jormungandr's giant head was crashing up out of the waves to rest his massive chin on the edge of the cliff Loki stood atop, his fangs and sharp tipped fins menacing as they dug into the dirt. Yet Jormungandr's eyes were ever placid and calm, the gentle undulations of his body hypnotic if you stared too long.

"Hello, Father."

Loki pressed a hand against Jormungandr's muzzle, stroking down along his massive snout. "Hello, my son. How do you fare in Midgard's oceans these days?"

The giant snake's body could not shrug, but there was a light ripple across his massive back that certainly gave the appearance of one. "It is as it ever was. Most of the time it's peaceful enough that I just sleep. I like that."

His smile was a bit lopsided, Loki knew, but it still gave him warmth to know that Jormgundandr was at peace here. "I am heartened to hear that."

"But you are not here for a visit," Jormungandr said, after a few long minutes of simply letting Loki pet his son's giant head and clean the bits of seaweed and skewered fish guts from his fins. "Do you bring mischief to my home again?"

Loki laughed, but it was wry and bitter, more than true amusement. He did try to let it go for Jormungandr's sake, tried desperately to soften his rage, but his son had always been able to see through him better than expected, and would be able to do so even more now that Loki had little practice in hiding himself any more. "Of a sort." Jormungandr's mouth tipped downwards in a soft frown that was out of place on his terrifying face and Loki loved him for it, loved him for the contradictions and the things that most would not even think to look for on his son's even tempered face. "Though, I promise it is a necessary sort and in defense of your home."

Jormungandr swayed back and forth for a time, weighing his father in his mind, seeing all the things that were new about him, all the things that had boiled over since they had last seen each other, and Loki thought that it would wrench and twist something if he were to be found wanting by such a sweet soul. He had little enough left that was not twisted beyond the undoing of it, he did not wish to lose this, either.

"What would you ask of me, Father?" Jormungand settled again and Loki wished, for perhaps the thousandth time, that he could put his arms around his son and cradle him close, keep this one close to his heart always. He settled for smoothing down the giant fins at the side of Jormungandr's face, keeping care to avoid the gills at his neck.

"Know that I would not ask you to put yourself in true danger, nor do I ask you to bring harm to any of the inhabitants of your world. But your uncle will be here soon and, though he is more careful than he once was, it may still be up to you to take care where you fight. And here is what I will need you to do."

Afterwards, Loki pressed their foreheads together, the entire width of his head no match for even the bridge of Jormundandr's nose, but it was comforting all the same.

* * *

If it had been possible, Loki would have stayed with Jormungandr, but the timing was too crucial for it, now that Thor was back on Midgard. Even with the Gems' power, Loki had to be careful, for they were entirely too traceable, they would lead right back to him, if he were not careful. Only when it was necessary, did he pull out the Mind Gem to scry the scene on the mortals' flying metal ship, letting the scene unfold in front of him, as Thor stormed through the corridors to the central conference room, the Tesseract still held in an iron grip in his hand.

"You'd better clean up your goddamned mess this time," Fury said, his hands planted firmly on his hips and he scowled as if he'd only just lost the eye. "Not even two damn years and already your psychotic little brother is back for more."

Thor's look was dark, but he held his temper and Loki briefly thought about reaching out to touch his thoughts, if he was angry solely at Loki or if his temper had risen at being spoken to this way. "I will handle Loki and he will not return here again. You have my word on this."

"I'm still gonna tell the other Avengers to get their asses over here, but it'll take--"

"Sir!" a new voice interrupted and a young woman rushed up to Fury, handing him a flat mechanical tablet with lights blinking in tiny little tantrums on its surface. "There's something you need to see!" 

On the tablet, Loki could see a miniature picture of Jormungandr thrashing wildly in the sea, roaring a patently false rage to the sky, even as the waves whipped around in foaming white crashes against the rocky cliffs. Fury turned the tablet in Thor's direction, asking, "This another one of your messes, too?"

Thor did not take the tablet, and Loki could see it being crushed in his angry grip if he had, but his face turned even harder and electricity crackled faintly along Mjolnir's edge. "Yes. Show me where this is from and I will deal with this as well."

Then he left the Tesseract in Fury's care and followed the young woman out to be shown where to fly off to Jormungandr's waiting tantrum. Loki let the scene go.

* * *

Using the Space Gem, Loki folded two points of Midgard together and stepped across the connection, feeling like it pulled him across by the insides. It was not painful, but it was not as comfortable as walking the dark paths between the worlds, where you were in control of yourself always. This was more like a laser focused version of the Bifrost's power and Loki forcefully pushed down the nausea. Perhaps that was something that would get better in time.

He'd used the Mind Gem to follow where Fury had scurried off to, keeping a light touch on it so that the maze of corridors was easily navigable before him, his magic hiding him and the Gem's connection laying out the path. It was little trouble to slink down into the bowels of the metal ship and into the dark room with its only mildly more complex puzzles to lock the door. Set in the heart of the shadowy room was a pedestal with the Tesseract and its cage set on it, just begging to be taken with a wave of his hand.

And, atop the golden cage of the Tesseract, were two dark ravens with their beady little eyes staring straight at Loki.

As a boy, Loki had feared Huginn and Munnin, extensions of the Allfather's great reach and power, always certain that they would bring his father's massive hand down on the back of his neck, any time he did the slightest bit wrong. Thor had never shared his fear of the birds, not really even of the punishment when they were caught escaping their lessons to play in the great mud pits near the rivers that ran through the farming lands just beyond the city proper or when they sneaked out at night to play in the empty war rooms, with the decorative shields and swords for their battles.

He could not help the tiny frisson of guilt he felt when he saw them sitting atop the Tesseract's cage even now, no matter that there was no powerful hand to land on the back of his neck and drag him back to his bed with stern words the entire way.

"I seem to have trouble remembering my manners often of late," Loki said to them instead, putting a wide smile on his lips. "This is the second time today that I've been quite rude about not announcing myself beforehand. I hope you'll accept my apologies as well, Allfather. Also for not staying in your hospitality further, though, as you can see," he said as he swept a hand out and sketched a mocking bow, "I had other important things to attend to, which could not wait. And so I must be off once again."

He reached for the Tesseract, but Huginn pecked sharply at his hand, bringing to mind the way Odin had grasped his hand tightly as a child. It did not hurt, but it was enough to remind him that he was doing what he should not do and, as a child, it had kept him in line. But Loki was not a child anymore and was never the Allfather's in the first place.

He forced his hand back in and they pecked more sharply at him, this time a bolt of magic running through him at the touch, as if he had been prodded with a hot iron. It was unlikely that they could do more than that, pressing extra power through a familiar was not a comfortable process Loki knew, but they would not leave him alone, as they hopped onto his shoulders and perched there, refusing to be moved. They did not peck at him further, only looked down at him with their disapproving stares that made it easy to see Odin's cold, empty disapproving stare as well.

Loki gave thought to just simply ripping them off their perches and snapping their little necks, let the Allfather deal with the recoil, possibly even casting his mind out into the Void for several days before he could gather himself back into his own body. He gave them a sneer that he hoped conveyed his thoughts, but merely plucked them from his shoulders and tossed them into the air, siphoning just a bit of strength from the Power Gem to wrap them in spheres of dark green magic, so they crashed to the ground and could not peck or claw their way out of them.

"I'm afraid this is a one person trip, Allfather. Be glad I did not break their wings before I left and do not let it be said that I am not merciful."

Then he folded together the points of Midgard and stepped across them again, the Tesseract scooped up and tucked away in his magic space.

* * *

Loki had waited until Thor was nearly to the coast before he'd stepped into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying fortress and then it had taken him some time to retrieve his prize, so by the time he was clear of that mess, the one with Jormungandr was likely nearly done. He let the Mind Gem's power well up in him again, using it to touch Jormungandr's mind and see how the battle fared.

It was ferocious and terrifying from this great height, as Jormungandr reared up and roared directly at Thor, a huge wave of water swatting his uncle down from his upward flight so that he crashed back into the water. And yet Thor still whirled Mjolnir over his head, hurling her straight towards Jormungandr's head, connecting with the thick skull hard enough that he was dazed from its impact. Still, Jormungandr did not rage truly, Loki could feel that he did not mind the play-acting, but yet there was no thrill of it there, either, and felt a touch of disheartening for how dissimilar he and his son were.

Jorumgandr pulled himself to a great height one more, his head nearly into the storm clouds above them, the rain and battering waves meaning little to him as he screamed in Thor's face again, a fine mist covering his uncle from it. His giant tail lashed to and fro, whipping hard enough that the waves crashed well over the side of the cliff now, and knocking Thor back once more.

From a great distance, Jormungandr and Loki both could hear Thor shouting his nephew's name and more, but most of it was lost to the noise of the storm. So Jormungandr, accommodating by instinct, leaned down to better hear, swaying back and forth in front of Thor while he waited. "What was it that you said? I could not hear you."

Mjolnir was raised high in Thor's hand when she was recalled, but she did not fly again just yet. "Jormungandr! I ask what madness has taken you over to behave this way!"

Ah, Thor. Always wondering at the _why_ of things he would not understand, even should he be told plainly. "I do not think I have been taken by madness...." Loki could feel his confusion about what he should tell his uncle, as he did not wish to betray whatever plans his father had, yet he had no love of lying, either.

_It is all right, my darling,_ Loki said soothingly. _You may say whatever you wish or say nothing at all, your part in this is done._

And, before Thor could answer, Jormungandr dipped his giant head once and said, "All right." and slithered back into the ocean depths with only a soft rumble of goodbye to his uncle.

Through Jormungandr's sharp hearing, Loki could only hear Thor shouting terribly, "LOKI!" before the dark depths blurred everything away. He let the scene go.

* * *

It was so tempting to simply pull out the Soul Gem and use it to find his mother and tuck them away into the idyllic pocket universe that it opened up, no matter that they would never return from it, as any who ventured there could not bring themselves to come back, they were so captivated by it's tranquility. But Loki would not allow himself that, nor would he allow himself time to rest, because the universe did not allow it for him. He'd taken his falcon form again and flown at least the length of two hundred resting points away from the last trace of the Mind and Space Gems. It would be easy for any magic sensitives to find him when he used them again, but soon they would be far enough away that it would not matter.

The place he chose was a desolate and empty place, the only thing for acres in any direction were trees and swamps, and it would be difficult for any to cross the distance by accident. Here, he chose a spot in the middle of it all, one as good as another, and centered himself, calming his racing heart as best he could and forcing down the terror and nightmares of memory, resolutely not thinking of the pain he'd endured to get to this point, nor the scars that he still carried from it all. It would do him no good to be off-balance, for it would be sensed and used against him, prying him open and cracking his bones, leeching even the marrow from their brittle lengths--

No.

Loki breathed evenly for long minutes, until he trusted himself again, and then pulled out the Infinity Gauntlet to settle on his hand. It warped itself to fit him perfectly, each user would find that it felt as it were made for them, the flickering power of the gems a sudden roaring in their palm, as if a tidal wave against their mind, overwhelming those who did not know how to stand against it, the Gems demanding that they be used. Loki fought this battle as well, pushed it all back with the strength of one who had only this left to lose, and forced the power into the Tesseract in his other hand. It helped. Loki wiped the sweat from his brow, only because it had begun to drip into his eyes and sting, though, not nearly as badly as the way his muscles pulled and cramped on him after who knew how long he'd stood there, wrangling this heavy power.

Then he carved a new pathway between the worlds, using only the Infinity Gauntlet's energy to power the Tesseract, only Loki's mind the bridge that connected and reshaped them. It was if he could feel the entire universe cramming itself into his mind, that there was no rock or speck of dust that he could not feel, with all of these Gems at his fingertips, and only the focus he forced upon it keeping the power from splintering his very soul.

But it was enough. He could feel the edges of Thanos' massive mind and he directed the portal directly in front of the Titan, just big enough that it allowed him to step through. Loki let it go immediately after, feeling that any moment it would careen out of his hands and go spinning off, tearing an unrepairable gash through the entire universe if he could not keep hold of it, and then stood to face the one who had plucked him from the void.

Thanos stared back at him, hands crossed behind his muscled back, the great gold epaulettes gleaming dully in Midgard's late sun and his helmet even darker upon his head. His dark face held a terrible smile and his eyes glowed with an even worse power. "You have what is mine, little godling."

He towered over Loki, nearly twice a height of even the tallest of the Aesir and broader that any Giant Loki had ever seen. His presence consumed everything else around him, there was nothing that could hold one's attention while Thanos stood before them, only the towering form straight ahead and the crushing pressure on your skin as you felt his power. Loki remembered how it truly felt against his person, every time that massive hand had closed around his throat and broken the bones there, only enough time to heal them up before something else would give way under Thanos' grip. Loki was not sure which was worse, the looming threat of it, the hope that perhaps the right words would come to him and he could slither out from under the terrible grasp, even knowing that it would only delay the inevitable, or the almost relief of it finally happening, so that all you had to do was survive the pain blossoming in every part of you.

Loki's lips felt dry and chapped, his arms still faintly aching from holding the Infinity Gauntlet and the Tesseract together. Though, power slowly siphoned away from them and refilled him bit by bit, soothing away the hurts as if they were never there and never could be again. Thanos' gaze rolled slowly towards the glove on Loki's hand, sensing the power shifting in it, but he did not move to take them yet.

"I would ask what your intentions with it are," Loki said, his voice thin and reedy, while the glove pulsed on his hand, uncaring of who it went with, but wanting more, wanting to _remake_ everything, wanting to tear it apart and rebuild it, shift everything around until the wearer was satisfied, and then begin again. "You have never said and I find myself curious."

Thanos' smile was cruel. "Your curiosity does not matter. You have long planned to keep it from me, but that does not matter, either. You may use it against me, but the Gems know their true master and will not let you stand in a fight against me."

Perhaps he was right about that. But the Norns had seemed to grant their favor to him this day, for everything had happened exactly as he'd needed it to, no little twists of fate to pull on just the right thread to unravel everything. If they'd brought him this far without any warning signs to turn back, then he must forge on ahead, his conviction in this must stand.

"They seem to like me quite well," Loki said with a wide grin, stretched tight across his mouth. "I think I would like to see just how far they will take me. My apologies for the betrayal, but I do have a terrible habit of it."

Still, Thanos did not waver, he was as still as stone, aside from the dark glow of his eyes. "A betrayal is only when it comes as a surprise to the betrayed. Your plots are no betrayal, only the skitterings of a tiny rat grasping at things you will never understand." Thanos' eyes flicked up towards the tall trees at their backs and his smile was crueler still. "Your act for Odin Borson here is as thin as your existence, little godling."

Loki did not spin around, but only by sheer force of will, for he knew that he could not look away from a Titan, especially not a mad one, for even a second. "What does the Allfather have to do with--" He cut himself off at the fluttering of Huginn and Muninn's wings as they flew towards him, their claws digging into the leather of his shoulders as they settled onto either side of him. "You were not supposed to be here," he said with a faint frown at the two birds and the mind that lay beyond them. "Did you escape my trap so easily or were you merely pretending in the first place?" Muninn tipped its dark feathered head at Loki, no answer forthcoming from the endlessly deep eyes. "Ah, it matters not. Perhaps this is another of the Norns' gifts to me. You will be able to retrieve the items when we are done."

Muninn dipped its head at Loki, but it was not a bow or a nod of acknowledgement. Its feathers ruffled and it flapped one wing in Loki's face, just enough to be nearly flat against his cheekbone and he had to spit a feather out for it. "Whatever else lays between us, Allfather," he said and slowly stepped to the side, circling around Thanos and trying to widen the gap between them just a fraction further, "there are things we still share. You _must_ retrieve _everything_ here when it is over, else all may be lost."

On his other side, Huginn cawed sharply, its wings flicking hard against the curve of his neck in admonishment and Loki could not help the wry smile that twisted his mouth. "I am afraid that Loki Laufeyson does not heed your directives any better than Loki of Asgard did."

Thanos laughed at him, low and rumbling like a great tremor across Loki's bones, and those glowing eyes still followed him with a lazy sort of sureness. "You play at being the martyr, but your death will mean nothing more than another coin in a pile of riches laid at Lady Death's feet."

Pulling the power of the Gauntlet to him, wrapping it tighter around his fist, shaking with awe at the sheer _might_ of what he held in his hand, Loki braced himself. "It does not matter if I am a martyr or not, so long as I can trade the coin of your life for my own bargain with Lady Death."

A brief flicker of something cold and deadly shadowed Thanos' face, but there was no time for it to ripen, as Loki leapt at him and the battle was joined. Power burned in his hand, casting fire up the length of his arm and setting his very bones aflame with it, making him stronger, so much stronger, but ripping him apart to do it. He threw his fist directly at Thanos, intending to knock him to the ground, to use this power to burn him from the inside out, a mirror to what had nearly been done at Thanos' hands on Loki, the unbearable heat of it melting away everything he had on those long days between the worlds.

But Thanos blocked the strike with a huge hand, grunting as the action cost him. He made to close his fingers around Loki's gloved hand, but it was withdrawn quickly as Loki spun away, aiming a punch directly at his back, and, oh, it did not escape him that he was trying to use simple raw power to beat the Titan, still so caught up in trying to be something he wasn't.

Muninn still sat atop Loki's shoulder, its little feet clenched tightly into the leather as it flapped its wings and looked as if it were trying to lift him away from the fight. _Ah_ , Loki suddenly thought and jumped back away from Thanos' reach, who had swung around in a half-circle, his fist like a mace on the end of a chain, aimed straight at his prey.

Loki wrapped his free hand around the wrist of the Infinity Gauntlet and concentrated as hard as he could, a slim dagger of pure magic his reward for his efforts. The second and third were easier, now that he knew how to imagine them, and he flung them at Thanos from afar, spinning away between the trees when they were ripped from the very ground as Thanos tore after him. Loki briefly thought of the time on Jotunheim, like when they were chased by the mammoth beast, and how this was not dissimilar, aside from how it was not his life he feared for, but something much deeper inside him, should Thanos' hand close around him again.

More often than he liked, Thanos nearly caught him, the deep laughter ringing in his ears far more than an angry snarl would have, reminding him too well that he was prey to be played with before being devoured. Even his illusions were barely more than whisps of smoke to Thanos' eyes, who did little more than glance at them when Loki summoned a hundred of them in the clearing that was now twice as big as it once had been. Instead, those glowing dark eyes followed directly on the real Loki and the real Gauntlet, reaching out for him again. So, Loki summoned the Reality Gem, made the projections _real_ , crying out as the power tore into him and ripped open the ley lines of his magic to get what it wanted, his vision swimming as it tried to crawl even deeper into him.

"You are not even a child playing at his father's tools," Thanos laughed, sweeping aside the clones as if they were leaves on the wind. "You are less than an insect who has stumbled into power that does not belong to you and it will tear you apart, even were I to do nothing."

Loki grit his teeth and forced the Gems back out of his veins, forced them back into the palm of my hand. "Well, if that is true then--"

There was a split second of a high-pitched song that was more familiar to him than all but a handful of things in the entirety of the Nine Realms and then a shockwave of power blasted both he and Thanos off their feet.

Loki skidded backwards from the center of the blast, his back tearing through the underbrush until he finally stopped with his shoulder jarred against the roots of one of the half-uprooted trees. "You do have a habit of doing that," Loki said with a bitter twist of amusement as Thor landed nearly atop him, his face cold and hard. At least until he saw the ravens fluttering about Loki's head, who would not leave him even when Loki swatted at hand at them, trying to shoo them away.

"Loki, what are you plotting now?" Thor demanded, his eyes still caught between Loki and the birds that flapped their wings, his expression softening ever so slightly. "Huginn and Muninn led me here and I find you fighting yet another foe? Explain yourself."

With a laugh that was more wheeze than anything, Loki pushed himself to his feet, the power of the Gems clawing at him again, demanding to be let back in to give him the boost he needed. They tried to slither into the lines of his magic, tried to seep into his very pores, and it took nearly everything of Loki to keep them just at bay. "You would not care to understand, Thor, so do not pretend that you-- NO!"

Behind them, Thanos had also risen to stand on the other side of the clearing, a snarl finally on his face and one hand held outward, a lance of pure, dark power shooting straight out at Thor's back. There was no chance to think of anything, no chance to think that it was a bad move to make, that it would end everything before he could finish it, that all his work would be ruined. There was no time to think of such things, so all that was left was instinct, and instinct bade Loki to throw his entire weight at Thor to knock him aside, the dark energy like an arrow straight through Loki's side, ripping him open with pain and fire and blood.

From a great distance, Loki could hear Thor shouting his name and could almost feel the way Thor's hands caught him as he sagged downward, but most of it was lost in the roaring of blood in his ears and the power of the Gems loudly wailing at him, to either use them or free them, one or the other, _one or the other_ , like a thousand banshees inside his skull. It was worse than the time a lindworm had sneaked up underneath the water to snap at his legs, one of their giant fangs sinking into his flesh when he was only a few centuries old and only Thor there to carry him to safety. It was even worse than the time the great jade beast of Midgard had smashed him on Stark's floor and ruptured a third of his internal organs before he could heal them.

This was dark energy, it did not cauterize the wound as it tore through him, but ate away at the edges of his flesh instead, until Loki was nothing but fire and screaming. Not even Thor's hands on his jaw or the worried look that was back on his brother's face could break this, though, Loki grasped onto it like a river rock in the torrent of power and pain. That Thor was _worried_ for him, it would-- It was-- It would warm him, afterwards, even as it would break him open again.

And then a nightmare rose up before him, in the form of Thanos' large hand, the shade of a bruise, one that would spread out onto whatever he touched, and it reached for him, or it reached for Thor, or it reached for both of them, and Loki could not bear it. Not when Thor's back was turned as he leaned over Loki, so he did not see the horror that crept up behind him and Loki had not the words to convey it.

So he let the Gems invade him and rip him apart again, opened the floodgates that had them spilling into his sould again, and he could not even scream for it, they took up everything of his voice and thoughts and mind, aside from the shove he gave to Thor. He pushed Thor so that he and the Titan were faced only with each other and then Loki loosed everything he dared, sent a blast straight into Thanos' face that knocked him back and left him smoking as he cratered the dirt beneath him, so great was his impact. Again and again, Loki screamed and ripped more power away from himself and against Thanos' body, until the garments he wore were in tatters and his skin had been sliced open and blood ran down the length of him.

Even then he only stopped because Thor's hands were on him, because he was pulled back against that broad chest, and a desperate plea in his ear that he must come back. Truly, Loki did not want to, there was so little left for him there, but it was a siren song that he could not resist.

Thankfully, the pain had been lessened, the wound in his side was nearly gone, only a faint scrape of muscle was still exposed, and the exhaustion in his mind and soul and heart were far worse. Thor fell to his kneels with Loki, holding him when Loki retched into the dirt.

Yet even still it was not done, for Thanos lived yet, and he was pushing himself up with one straining but still great arm. His laughter rumbled through the clearing, deep and so darkly amused, his eyes never having lost their glow. "You still sacrifice your life for him, no matter that he did not come all those times you wailed for him to save you from only the lightest of touches." And Loki retched again, despite that he had nothing left in his stomach to give back, for there was _nothing_ in him anymore, nothing that could defeat this Titan. "This is why the Gems will chew up the bit of gristle that you are and leave you as a husk within hours. They were never meant for the likes of you."

He could feel Thor tense behind him and wanted to moan that, no, this was not how it was supposed to be, that Loki was not supposed to be _weak_ like this, the Norns were supposed to have woven this path neatly out so that it was easy for Loki's feet to tread it. Loki Laufeyson was supposed to win this day, just the once, to counterbalance all of the loss and sacrifice Loki of Asgard had given for it! "No," Loki croaked and clawed his fingers into the earth beneath him. "No, I will not let you...."

Thanos rumbled his laugh again and now he stood before them, still smoking but whole, further completing the nightmarish image. "I have heard you mewl those words before and they will do as much good now as they did then. You will again learn your place, for I will break you twice as hard after this."

Behind Loki, Thor snarled and surged to his feet, where Loki could hear the crackle of Mjolnir's rage to match his brother's. "You will not lay a hand on him again! I know not the precise details of what transpired between you, but it is more than clear that you were the one that twisted my brother into the mad thing he was on Midgard." Mjolnir's song was rising in pitch in his hand, her sweet tune crying for blood, for a river of it, until it flooded the entire clearing, and lightning licked its way over Thor's clenched fists and up his arms. "He spoke of worlds that he had never seen before, but I think that is not what you showed him. The Chitauri forces were yours and you are the one that threatens Midgard, who would make others your sacrifices in your mad lust for power and _it will not stand!_ You shall not leave here today!"

A grin split Thanos' face, one that seemed almost a sneer, but for the continued laughter that came with it. "I care nothing for power, only Death!"

Loki forced himself to his feet, one hand clutching tightly at Thor for balance, and stemmed the tide of the Gems inside him as best he could. "This much, he speaks true. Thanos cares not for ruling, but only what those subjects under his boot can bring him to woo his Lady Death. She is the personification of it and he wishes to take her as a lover, the sacrifices of a billion lives a courting gift to win her affection." Loki panted and drew himself to his full height, forcing himself to let go of Thor, to no longer use him as an anchor in the sea he was adrift in. "Thor, you must go. I will use the Infinity Gauntlet to destroy this small place, I will implode them and destroy the mad Titan with it, while they will survive it. You must collect them before they draw any other to them, for they do wish to be used."

Thor's hands were hot on his face as he turned Loki to look at him, the storm furious in his eyes. "You ask me to leave you here! You would not survive such a thing and yet you ask me, now that I have only _just_ sighted the brother I thought lost, and realized how close he has been this entire time that _I had not seen_ , and you would have me leave you to your death!"

If he leaned into Thor's touch, Loki could not manage to chastise himself no matter that he should. "It is the only way," he rasped, throat still burning from the bile that had clawed its way out of him. "He cannot be defeated otherwise, you must trust me, Thor." And he did not know if Thor still held enough sentiment for him to make this work, but Loki had to try it anyway. His face softened and his eyes grew hazy and damp, Loki pulling up the tears that he would never otherwise let free. "Please. You must let me do this, Thor."

Thor's hands tightened against his face and there was a terrible grimness to his expression, which made Loki's heart leap into this throat. It was terrible to be pulled apart by the desire for Thor to finally, _finally_ help him in this fight, yet knowing that it would kill them both. And, should they both die, Loki's plans would be torn asunder, everything had to be put to the proper place or it was _meaningless!_

"I would give you anything you asked but that," Thor told him and it wrenched at Loki that he sounded so agonized. Thor should not sound this way, he should not sound as if he were the one being torn in two, where instead he should be at the limits of either his joy or his rage, that force of nature that razed everything in its path, whether in love or in anger. Not someone who sounded as desperate as Loki truly was. "I do not know everything of what truly motivates you in this, but I know that I will not stand aside and never have the chance to find out!" His hands slid down to Loki's neck, one hand cupped around the back, as immovable and comforting as it had always been, and Loki ached for it. "We will do this _together_."

"No, Thor, you must-- You _must_ \--"

Thor's tone was almost gentle as he pushed back Loki's hair behind his ear. "No, I will not." 

And then he turned from Loki, Mjolnir swinging at his side, her hum vibrating through the air again and growing in pitch, until she was released at the Titan, with Thor following in her wake. She sang through the air, slamming into the side of Thanos' face, who grunted and was forced to the side as they passed by him. A moment later, though, Thanos was spinning around to slam one massive fist into the ground just where Thor had landed, only quick reflexes saving his brother from the earth-shattering impact. Even as his hand made contact with the ground, Thor was raising Mjolnir above his head to bring her down on Thanos' knuckles, the crack of uru hammer meeting Titan bone booming across the clearing and even further out into the woods beyond.

With a great roar of pain, Thanos surged forward to slam his fist directly against Thor, his great size belying the horrible speed at which he moved, and Thor flew backwards, crashing through and breaking several trees in his path. As Thanos rose to his feet again, each step thundered across the ground, shaking it until he reached Thor's form on the ground, slamming his fist down again, missing only by inches when Thor rolled to the side. He sprang up on the other side of Thanos and Mjolnir once again rose towards the sky, this time an answering rumble of thunder above them instead of below. The lightning answered Thor's call like it had been eagerly waiting, crashing down in one strike after another, each of them hitting Thanos like a lightning rod in a terrible storm.

The world burned white in Thor's rage and it was a sight to behold, what little could be seen of it through the glare. Even his blue eyes had turned to white with so much of his favorite element called down to him, making him a living embodiment of the lightning. Each touch to Thanos' skin sizzled and scorched, every punch that Thor threw was one of both strengths, the power so terrifying that Loki even feared his brother's berserker rage in that moment.

And yet he could not stay idle, not with such a chance before him. He pulled the Infinity Gauntlet to him again, its hissing in his ears turning vicious and angry at the push and pull it had been subjected to, only the Tesseract's soothing blue made it tolerable to thrust it back into his own magics and blend them together again. He leapt at Thanos, one of his own hands glowing with the Power Gem to mimic Thor's storm gifts, and he landed a solid punch right against the spine of the back turned to him.

Thanos howled with rage and swung around to bat Loki back into the trees again, stomping after him while still bleeding from Thor's lightning strikes, the garments and skin alike still smouldering, blackened and curling at the edges. Each step was like a quake as Loki's nightmare reached for him, his giant fingers nearly closing around Loki's throat, only stopped by a massive wall of light slamming down onto all of them.

Even before the light had cleared, the sound of a hundred voices raised as one were heard, and all three of them stopped to behold the sight of the Bifrost having opened up to set down a charge of Einherjar soldiers, even Thor's berserker rage dimmed at the sight of them. At the front to lead them was a figure in gold armor, both horns and wings atop his head silhouetted in the dying light.

Odin Allfather had his long golden spear raised before them and each of the soldiers at his back answered with an even greater cry for the battle about to be joined. At his signal, they surged forward like a wave crashing against the shore, unminding of the way a Titan could swat them away like flies buzzing around a dead carcass. They flew in all directions, the darker golds of their armor catching in Midgard's sun, and Loki could only stare at the scene before him, when Odin marched towards his son and they turned to Thanos as one. Each raised their weapon once more, shouting to the sky that Thanos would not live to see the next setting of the sun, and charged.

It was no easy fight, for all that Thanos was not so much taller, he was still faster and stronger than any Asgardian, even the great Allfather or the mighty Thor. He roared his fury back at them, pounding his fists down as they were covered in dark energy, eating away at all they touched, save for the strongest of weapons. They cut into Thanos, but it was a slow death, if it was one at all, for they bled little in comparison to the great strength that was used to make the cuts in the first place.

Thor swung his hammer again and again, calling her back each time he heaved her forward, while Odin stabbed into Thanos' hand with Gungnir, the pulse of his own power burning into Thanos' veins before it could be pushed back. The settled to opposite sides of the Titan, so that he was forced to oscillate between them, each striking forward as quick as large cats when Thanos was turned, truly father and son to anyone who had the sight to behold them.

He did not know how long it had been since Asgard had joined the battle, too entranced by watching them swarm a foe they could not hope to defeat alone, rapt with something like awe at how Thanos truly fought against the stream of them, only jolted out of it when Odin shouted at him, "LOKI!"

It was the voice of his childhood, the one that called on him to pay attention when he'd dawdled too long on a hunting trip and he couldn't bear to pull himself away from peering over cliff edges or sneaking as close to the griffin's nest as he could. It was the voice that snapped him back to attention for his surroundings and he could no more deny it now than he could as a child. Loki forced himself to his feet once more, the Infinity Gauntlet pulsing and pounding in his head as much as on his hand, and lept into the frey.

Thor and Odin held Thanos between them, Mjolnir driving into one side, while Gungnir gave no quarter on the other, trapped between them like wild prey. And so it was that Loki could leap onto his back, one arm wrapped tightly around Thanos' throat for balance, and the Gauntlet pressed hard against the top of his spine, right where the brain stem would be.

And then Loki _pushed_.

Pushed everything that he could into the magics of the Gauntlet, the Tesseract lost somewhere behind him now, forced everything into the channels of his magic and his body, searing heat pouring out of his gloved hand so that the air around it wavered and glowed red hot. He pushed and pushed, until his hand began to sink into the muscle and bone, melting it all away beneath the palm of his hand, while Thanos screamed and clawed at him. His pummeling of the arm at his throat was so hard that Loki's arm shattered beneath it, only his elbow digging into Thanos' shoulder even kept him aloft, yet he held on.

He held on until his hand wrapped around the vertebrae of Thanos' spine and the Titan's screams finally died away and he slumped forward, dead.

Dead. Finally dead. 

Thanos was dead and Loki was free.

Not even the pain of landing on his arm or the Infinity Gauntlet crowding back into all the little spaces of him could pull Loki down from the airy, lofty heights he was soaring to for Thanos was dead!

Time was lost to him again as he lay there, barely having been able to roll onto his back, still covered in blood and bits of cooked gore, the stench of burning meat thickly roiling over him, but it did not matter in the slightest. The hardest part was done, there was so little left now, that it was almost time for Loki to rest and let whatever else come that may. 

Soon enough, Thor's hands were gentle on him as they pulled him up to sit, leaned back against his brother's chest once again, his broken arm limp at his side and sending sparks of heat and pain straight into his brain, the lines of his magic seared beyond Loki's recognition of them. "Loki," Thor murmured over and over again, careful not to touch anything that was too damaged, yet unable to not lay hands on his brother again. It was comforting and warm, so Loki relaxed into it, took whatever he could in this terrible aftermath.

Only a few of the Einherjar still milled about, for most of them had dragged the corpse away, which at least lessened the immediate stench, but there was no pulling it from his mind, now that it had been burned into his memory. The further the body was from him, though, the easier it was to pull away from the terrible demands the Gauntlet was still pounding into his magics, and Loki finally, finally let it slip from his hand and clatter to the ground, the relief of it so swift and brutal that he gasped aloud.

Just in time to hear it, Odin returned to where Thor was cradling Loki against him, the Tesseract in one golden armored hand and his single eye falling to the Gauntlet that Loki had let drop. And so Loki licked his dry, cracked lips again and forced his parched throat to let words and a rasping laugh pass through. "It seems as if Loki Laufeyson has one great victory in him at least."

Odin's gaze was heavy and serious on him, standing tall over his son and former not-truly-ever son. "No, this was no victory of Loki Laufeyson."

Weak laughter bubbled up in Loki, bitter and chafing, for of course he would not even be allowed this much. He never was, not ever. Then Odin was kneeling before him, one hand stripped of his armored gloves to press against the side of Loki's face, and his own countenance was weathered and weary, and how great the cost of this battle must have been for him. He would claim all the victory now for the House of Odin, of course, for himself and his golden son, so that all the Nine would know they were still strong and mighty, that their role as the stewards of all were not to be challenged. Odin's thumb stroked gently over Loki's cheekbone, ash and gore likely smudging the way, and he said, "This was a victory of Loki Odinson."

The rage and bitterness froze in his chest, held as still as a bit of flora or fauna captured in amber. Loki trembled, unable to comprehend, until the bubble inside him burst and acrid sentiment finally burst forth, the dam well broken and swept away. "Only now that it suits you, will I be welcomed back to the fold, is it, Allfather? When I have proven to be a warrior of the kind _you_ have always wanted, that a great victory would bring prestige to your house rather than--"

"Do you think, dear boy," Odin cut him off harshly and yet there was no denying the warm sentiment there, the soft look in his eyes, "that you would not be given the chance to reclaim yourself, just as your brother was given?"

Loki stared hard at him, thoughts unable to chase each other for as soon as they tried to take off, they clattered back down to the ground of his mind, barely spinning. "I don't.... This wasn't.... But when Thor...."

Odin's hand pressed a fraction harder against his cheek, just enough to be a reminder of the physical connection between them. "Your banishment and returning path could never be the same as Thor's," Odin explained, his armor creaking as he settled more comfortably in front of them. "Your brother is straightforward where you are not. Had I simply banished you to be a mortal, you would have found ways around it, would never have come to the test you needed." Sudden tears blurred Loki's vision and his throat worked, but nothing came out, there was nothing yet in bloom enough in him to give back. "You are far too clever for anything less than the obstacles you were given and I feared even they would not be enough to return you to us."

It was if another great dam had burst and there was yet another flood washing away everything that Loki had been, breaking down the stone walls that he'd so carefully built up as if they were little but thin sticks jammed into the ground to stand against a raging river. The tears in his eyes spilled over, hot against his face, and his throat closed around them, until a sob tore loose from him. His father in front of him, his brother behind him, his would-be owner dead, and his mother so far from all of them, it was too much and Loki--Loki Laufeyson, Loki of Asgard, Loki Odinson, he did not _know_ which he was anymore--shook with the wracking sobs that overcame him. They were silent, he held that much back, but any who looked at him would see it plainly, that Loki, son of Odin and Frigga, brother of Thor, of Asgard, of Nowhere, killer of Thanos of Titan, finally wept for all that had been taken away and given back.

And he could feel Thor's tears on the back of his neck and could see Odin's on his face in front of him, which only made Loki wrench harder, for long and endless minutes, until everything was completely spilled out of him, leaving only quiet behind.

Afterwards, they were silent, but Thor's hands would not leave him and Odin's were firm on his arms when helping him to his feet, careful to avoid the broken arm, until he could press such gentle fingers against it that Loki nearly could not feel them, not until the healing seidr flowed through bone and muscle and tendon to repair it. "Thank you," Loki said quietly and Odin's answer was a soft smile with a squeeze to his elbow.

"There is still much to be discussed, not everything is wiped clean in a great battle, no more than it was when Thor returned to us and balance still had to be kept." He turned to survey the damage and Loki was glad for the gaze being off him, even with such a warm one, it was still heavy and he had carried so much for so long. "But things will be set to rights, the hardest part is over."

_Yes, the hardest part is indeed over,_ Loki thought as he caught sight of a slim figure at the edge of their gathering, a soft black shawl draped over her shoulders. "One moment," he murmured to Thor, who protested but did not try to stop him as Loki picked his way carefully across the now rough, uneven terrain towards her.

She waited patiently for him to come to her, her dark and bottomless eyes watching him patiently as he approached. _You have delivered Thanos of Titan's death to me, as you promised,_ she murmured and yet her voice carried easily, a shiver running down his spine. _It is a far heavier coin than any that he would have offered me himself, a fair trade for us both._

Loki dipped his head slightly, but did not stray his gaze from her. "Our deal is nearly done. I would have what I was promised in return now."

From between the folds of her dark dress, she pulled out a soft golden light that she held aloft and it floated over towards Loki. He cradled with the utmost of care to his chest, feeling the warmth of it rolling against his palms, and fresh tears sprung to his eyes.

_This is our agreed exchange, but there is still the price for the bargain itself._

Now Loki did bow his head, the warm golden light tucked against him and sheltered from even so much as a gentle breeze. "I will pay it. I ask, however, a few moments before I deliver the rest to you. Surely, you do not mind a bit more time?"

_Time means little to me,_ she answered and that was enough for Loki. He turned back to see Odin and Thor both watching him, Thor's gaze wary and Odin's scrutinizing, almost assuredly working away at the puzzle before him. But it was done and could not be undone now, no matter what was said or Loki gave away.

Once he stood in front of them again, Loki summoned up the feather cloak from his magic space, wincing at how it hurt to pull any of his magic from their ley lines, and set the glowing light atop it, making a small nest to protect it and keep it safe. "Return them to Asgard and place them in Mother's room," he said quietly and placed them in Odin's hands. Briefly he pulled out another bit from his magic space, a single strand of golden hair, to tie it loosely around the lighted sphere, pleased at the way it shimmered and absorbed the strand. "Leave them be for a fortnight and then return to them afterwards, all will be well."

"Loki, what did you bargain for this?" Odin asked him, something like anger creeping into his voice. Loki shook his head, for it did not matter now, the bargain was set and he could not undo it, no matter if Loki pleaded or refused or even simply accepted it with grace. "Whatever this cost, do not throw away what you have gained today for it!"

Loki's smile was sad and regretful, he knew. He would have changed things if he could have, but you did not make a bargain with Lady Death and go back on it, not even Loki Silvertongue could talk his way out of it. "Whatever cost she asked would have been worth it, for the Nine meant nothing to me without _her_. This was the only way, for Malekith sent her soul careening into the spaces between, neither to Hel nor Valhalla, where none of us could ever reach her again. I could not see another choice."

Thor grabbed him suddenly, his hands tight on Loki's arms, and he demanded, "What cost have you been made to pay now!?"

But Loki only threw his arms around Thor's neck and clung to him for as long as he could, refusing to tremble in his arms like a weak child in need of rescuing. "I am sorry, Thor," he said against the strong and thickly muscled neck, his face pressing tightly to the crook of it. "Truly, I am sorry. If I had known.... But the deal has been struck. Goodbye, Thor, and know that my love for you was true."

Then the cool hand of death reached in to steal him away and Loki Odinson died in Thor's arms, the screaming of his name in his brother's voice echoing his ears.


End file.
